In 'Inglourious Basterds,' Brad Pitt's earring hole is showing

September 11, 2009|By Chris McNamara, SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

Aldo "The Apache" Raine is pacing across a stone courtyard, challenging his ragtag group of "Inglourious Basterds" to scalp 100 Nazis apiece, and I am in the moment. Disbelief is suspended -- I'm here, with these soldiers, ready to bring down Hitler.

That is, until I spot the pock in Brad Pitt's left earlobe -- a tiny hole meant to hold an earring, because he is a 21st Century actor (not a war hero), and this is a 21st Century movie (not a time portal to 1941), and for the next two hours I am reminded that this film is just that -- a film. Pass the popcorn.

This is a strange hobby of mine -- spotting actors' earring holes on the big screen, where they can appear as large as manholes during close-ups. As such, it baffles me why male actors pierce their ears. (Truthfully, it baffles me that any males pierce their ears.)

Those little cavities can be character-killers during period pieces, so I got to wondering -- how cognizant is Hollywood of pierced lobes?

"It's something we're always thinking of," says Lois Burwell, the veteran Hollywood makeup artist who won an Oscar for painting Mel Gibson blue in "Braveheart." "The audience can not only be distracted by the earring hole but also by the disguise for the hole."

Disguising techniques vary, says Burwell. She uses a pinch of mortician's wax softened with silicone and mixed with foundation, which she dabs into the lobe hole with a tiny spatula -- Tinseltown tuck-pointing. A sponge creates skinlike texture, then sealant is applied, over which goes pancake makeup to eliminate shine.

It's a lot of labor for a little lacuna. But Vin Diesel's ears have to be cavity-free when he's playing a World War II soldier in "Saving Private Ryan." Michael Clark Duncan's 1930s prisoner character in "The Green Mile" can't appear to be bling-ready. And some actresses with multiple punctures require the same treatment, so film producers call in artists such as Burwell.

Of course, oversights happen all the time. Unwanted pocks appear in actors' ears. And when those tiny voids are evident -- to me at least -- they rip a huge hole into verisimilitude.